Community-acquired bacterial pneumonia in adults: An update

Abstract

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the prominent cause of mortality and morbidity with important clinical impact across the globe. India accounts for 23 per cent of global pneumonia burden with case fatality rates between 14 and 30 per cent, and Streptococcus pneumoniae is considered a major bacterial aetiology. Emerging pathogens like Burkholderia pseudomallei is increasingly recognized as an important cause of CAP in Southeast Asian countries. Initial management in the primary care depends on clinical assessment while the hospitalized patients require combinations of clinical scores, chest radiography and various microbiological and biomarker assays. This comprehensive diagnostic approach together with additional sampling and molecular tests in selected high-risk patients should be practiced. Inappropriate therapy in CAP in hospitalized patients lengthens hospital stay and increases cost and mortality. In addition, emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms poses tough challenges in deciding empirical as well as definitive therapy. Developing local evidence on the cause and management should be a priority to improve health outcomes in CAP.

Peculiarities of cellular, humoral links of immunity and dynamics of immunoglobulins in community-acquired pneumonia in adults and their importance for diagnostics and prognosis of the disease

“…The results of the analysis of the clinical course and etiological characteristics of CAP of the examined patients reflect the general trends of the disease, consistent with the literature [1,3,8].…”

“…Currently, pneumonia ranks 4-5 in the world in the structure of causes of death after cardiovascular and cancer diseases, cerebrovascular pathology, injuries and poisonings, and among infectious diseases take 1st place [1]. The mortality of hospitalized patients with severe disease ranges from 14 to 40 % and increases among patients older than 60 years [2].…”

Pneumococcal serotypes causing non-invasive pneumonia in adults from a South Indian tertiary care hospital and the impact of the newer conjugate vaccines

“…This study is the first to describe radiological findings with comorbidities in non-invasive pneumonia associated with 2). This finding is in concordance with the findings of other similar studies from India and worldwide [15,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Indian studies predominantly include subjects from the Northern regions and have reported K. pneumoniae or M. pneumoniae as the second major etiological agents, whereas we observed that H. influenzae was the second major pathogen [26,27].…”

Comparison of Different Scoring Systems for Prediction of Mortality and ICU Admission in Elderly CAP Population

“…Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity with substantial clinical and economic impact. 1 The incidence of pneumonia increases with age, 2 with a 10 times higher hospitalization rate in patients aged 65 years and older (about 2000 per 100,000 per year) than in the younger population. 3 Multiple factors are related to the higher incidence of CAP in the older population, such as comorbidities, nutritional status, weakened immune system and swallowing dysfunction.…”